Shepard's Visits Home
by Octoberskys
Summary: What a visit home would be like for Commander Katherine Shepard. Light and funny.


**Shepard's Visit Home**

So I went home to see my mom while I was on shore leave. It had been almost a year since I had last seen her, which to any mother was a lifetime to be away from their only daughter, who was commissioned in the Systems' Alliance.

Helping my mother prepare dinner in the kitchen, my mom ask, "Oh be a dear and take out the trash." She hummed it like she was making a remark about the weather. I stopped dead in my tracks, as I was washing my hands in the sink. I slowly turned around and desperately tried to stifle a laugh from bursting out of my lips.

"Mom! Did you forget who I am?" The blank expression on her face encouraged me to provide her with a friendly reminder, "I'm the savior of the Citadel, the first human Spectre, Commanding Officer of the most advanced ship in the fleet!" My words were clearly falling on deaf ears as I tried to educate her, "The person who brought down the rogue Spectre Saren, Award recipient of the Star of Terra!" Again, no change in my mother's expression. I added, "Mom! You have to die _like twice_ to receive the Star of Terra!"

My mother only laughed a little as mothers do. "Sure thing dear but in my house, you are still my daughter; my little girl. So take out the trash." My jaw almost smashed the floor tile that lay beneath my feet. "Mom! I've fought Threwser maws, I've faced an asari commando unit. I've debunked more husk and Geth than I can even count."

Raising my wet hands to simulate my favorite rifle, Maggie, my mom threw a dish towel at me to dry my hands as I continued, "Mom! Can you believe it? Geth beyond the Veil?" Wrenching the towel in my hands, I knew I was losing this battle. "I have whole departments below me who take out trash."

"Oh that's nice dear but you aren't on your ship now are you?" She looked amusingly around the small kitchen, "I don't see these departments you speak of either. All I see is my daughter. Now gather up the trash before dinner gets cold." She had that motherly tone. How does one argue against that? The next thing I knew I found myself bent over the trash pail collecting up the odorous trash. Walking out the back porch I looked briefly to the sky and was very, very thankful no one on the Normandy could see me right now.

Using that ultrasonic hearing that mothers instinctively have, she must have heard my forward progress come to a halt as she called out from inside the house. "Don't doddle dear, I have a few other things for you to do during your visit home." Scared of what that list might entail, I hurried back inside the house.

Washing my hands in the kitchen sink again, I hesitantly asked, "What sort of things do you need done?" Under my breath I was praying they were simple things, worthy things of the Great Human Spectre. My mother was only too happy to supply her list that she removed from the refrigerator door. My eyes immediately darted to the long, hand written list she was now holding in her hands. I gasped, "What is that?"

Smiling as if she had just baked her favorite German chocolate cake she hummed, "Why, it's my 'honey do' list." My eyes instantly rolled as she began reading from the rooster accented paper.

"Hang the lace curtains in the kitchen, check the back patio door, it's squeaking again. Flip my mattress. Bring those boxes in the garage down to the basement." I blasted, "All of those?" My mother returned with a smug look, "What are they too heavy for the savior of the Citadel?" Blasted, it's not fair. She can't use my own words against me.

She just kept reading down the list. "That light is going off in the skycar again. You need to look at it for me. I think it's time for its oil change. Look at the garbage disposal unit under the sink. I think its acting up as usual." I leaned against the sink with my feet crossed; arms folded over my chest and sighed deeply. "Anything else?" She was more than happy I asked, "Oh yeah, if there is time, I'd like to paint the house!" I dropped my head as I answered under my breath, "Of course you do."

**A/N:** This story came to me during a recent visit with my mother. This story is based on actual events my mother did while I was serving in the U.S. Navy and still does to me to this day. Shaking my head slowly, "God mom, I gotta love you! This one is for you!"


End file.
